Match Review: Arsenal 3 Newcastle 0 - Premier League 28.04.14

The finish line is in sight. Victory against Newcastle on Monday night means that if City beat Everton at the weekend, we're guaranteed Champions League football for yet another season. Everton's self inflicted away defeat, courtesy of two own goals, means that even if they beat City, we have only to win against West Brom to ensure we don't endure another nail biting last day. The job isn't quite done, but we're within touching distance of our 17th successive Champions League appearance.

As was pretty much expected, we named an unchanged team from the one that disposed of Hull with ease. The only negative of the night, apart from the infuriating tube strike, was that Wenger announced that Chamberlain would be sidelined for two weeks with a small muscle injury. He should be fit for the Cup final, but he won't play any part next weekend and will be a doubt for Norwich away.

Newcastle set up as you would expect a team that has lost their last five to set up for an away game against one of the top four. Men behind the ball, lone striker and pressing the man in possession. Nothing new or frightening, just the bog standard underdog tactic. For the opening 25 minutes it was reasonably effective too, but it wasn't like they were a worry for us. There was always the sense that Newcastle had all the threat of a wet paper towel and their defending was no more than average at the best of times. After initially finding it tricky to break through their defence, our opener came somewhat surprisingly from a set piece. Having won a free kick around 35 yards out, Santi Cazorla sent a wicked cross in that evaded all except Laurent Koscielny, who stole in front of his marker and poked past Krul. Slightly unexpected, as we're usually horribly ineffective when it comes to set plays, but it was nice for us to finally make one count. Koscielny, who loves a goal against Newcastle, was then booked for kicking the ball into the stand. Honestly I've never seen anything that ridiculous. How long before you're booked for smiling? It hardly wasted any time and why would we want to waste time so early in the game? It was just the first of many little decisions that the referee made that made me want to give him a slap.

It was clear after we scored that Newcastle weren't at all bothered about trying to get back into the game. They were just there because they had to be and to bank their appearance fees before they got to go home with no worries about tube strikes or last trains home. I genuinely felt sorry for the Newcastle fans. They're a passionate bunch and to bring 2,000 fans down on a Monday night with no guarantee that they'd be able to get back the same night is pretty impressive. They deserved a lot better than their team and manager gave them and rightly showed their disdain for both Pardew and Mike Ashley throughout the game. But anyway, back to the game.

We continued our dominance as the game approached half time. Podolski twice forced Krul into excellent saves; first when the German was set clear down the left and had his shot deflected wide by the Keeper's leg and secondly when he met a corner with a powerful header, only to see it saved again. It seemed only a matter of time before the second goal came and that was indeed the case. Arteta's brilliant pass to Giroud gave the striker time and space to bare down on goal and pick his spot. But, again, Krul was there to deny, not once but twice. Fortunately the second save deflected into the path of Mesut Özil, who cooly dispatched the chance. To be honest, cooly isn't even the word. Nonchalantly. Arrogantly. Even disdainfully would suit it better. The playmaker was more concerned with why Giroud didn't square the ball to him in the first place and even seemed to be looking incredulously at Giroud as he put the ball in. It was beautiful to watch. What a player.

In truth, we had had enough chances to be more than 2-0 up by half time. In another game you might have been worried it could cost us, but against Newcastle I felt as comfortable at 1-0 as I would have at 7-0. Newcastle were pretty embarrassing and you could see the Arsenal players start enjoying themselves in the second half. Back heels, flicks and intricate passing moves abounded as we ran rings round a disinterested Newcastle team. One paper suggested on the Tuesday morning after the game that the Newcastle players were doing just enough to not be accused of nicking a living. To me, they weren't so much nicking a living, but smashing in the front window in broad daylight and walking off with one. Despite a couple of breakaway chances, they never really looked able to score and soon enough the result was confirmed.

Aaron Ramsey combined with Özil to give the latter a crossing opportunity. The German didn't waste it, whipping a vicious ball across the box that was met by Giroud's head and thundered into the net. A little bit of icing for the cake and a lovely bit of play that included a very attractive little reverse pass from Ramsey. The prospect of what he and Özil could do together if they had a fully fit season makes me think naughty thoughts. If they have some pacey, world class team mates to combine with, the results could be quite messy. I'd attend each game feeling sorry in advance for our opposition. I'd love for us to have that fear factor again.

There were a few more scoring chances, but largely the game drifted towards its inevitable conclusion without much incident. Barring some apocalyptic calamity, our Champions League status should be secure for another year. Although after seeing the Bayern v Real game, the prospect of facing that particular Spanish side doesn't fill me with overwhelming joy. That's the sort of dread we need to be inspiring in our opposition next season. We have a solid base to build on and with the correct investment, we could have an extremely formidable team. There are no excuses though. We first have to ensure we finish the job in the league, then secure the FA Cup and then show the ambition that has been talked of in past. Glory days could be just around the corner, or further away than ever.

Teams

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Szczesny, Sagna (Y), Mertesacker, Koscielny (Y), Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey (Y) (Rosicky 74'), Podolski, Özil (Flamini 74'), Cazorla, Giroud (Sanogo 84')
Subs
Fabianski, Jenkinson, Vermaelen, Rosicky, Flamini, Sanogo, Kallstrom

Newcastle (4-5-1)
Krul, Debuchy (Yanga-Mbiwa 84'), Coloccini, Williamson, Dummett, Anita, Tiote (Y), Gosling (Sh Ameobi), Gouffran (Armstrong 89'), Sissoko (Y), Remy
Subs
Haidara, Armstrong, Yanga-Mbiwa, Elliot, Sh Ameobi, Tayler, Obertan

Player Ratings

Szczesny - 7/10 - Made a couple of decent saves
Sagna - 7/10 - Dependable as usual, will be a huge loss if he goes
Mertesacker - 7/10 - Surely our captain from next season
Koscielny - 8/10 - Superb as usual, loves to score on St Totteringham's day
Monreal - 7/10 - Solid enough and looking a bit more confident
Arteta - 7/10 - Far from the 'old man' some believe he is, still a quality player
Ramsey - 7/10 - Could be an Arsenal legend if he carries on this way
Podolski - 6/10 - Never really got into the game despite forcing two saves
Özil - 8/10 - Looked different class, produced some jaw dropping moments
Cazorla - 7/10 - Looked busy and put in a great cross for the first goal
Giroud - 7/10 - Had an easier time than usual against a very ordinary defence
Subs
Flamini - 6/10 - Ran around like a complete nutter and it was fun to watch
Rosicky - 6/10 - Ran around in a more sane manner and was less fun to watch
Sanogo - N/A

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